Lyme and Psychiatric Symptoms

Lyme (Borreliosis) has become a very common illness; every state in the country has areas infested with ticks. Patients dealing with Lyme suffer neuro-psychiatric complications that are related directly to the illness, as well as to the emotional challenges and lack of support which often accompanies this difficult illness. Many doctors are convinced that after a short course of antibiotics patients should be well. The huge number of people still ill years after a course of antibiotics belie this assertion.

Patients with Lyme, and related tick-borne disease, can have symptoms which mimic every known psychiatric syndrome. Treatment aimed directly at symptoms can relieve suffering rather quickly. These symptoms include insomnia, anxiety, “brain fog”, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depersonalization, depression, and rages. But antibiotics are needed to undermine the root cause of the illness: the bacteria that causes Lyme: Borrelia burgdorferi.

Lyme is so common, that at this point in time, a large percentage of my patients have the illness. Almost everybody knows someone with this illness. It’s something we always have to keep in mind.

If you have Lyme, you deserve excellent treatment, no matter how briefly or how long you have been ill.

You deserve a Lyme-literate physician.

Below is a lecture, given to psychiatrists. It’s technical, but may be of interest to some patients, as I know many patients become deeply self-educated about this illness and have taken a deep dive into the learning about the illness. If you’re one of these patients, or a health-care professional, the entire lecture may speak to you. If you only want to know about psychiatric symptoms associated with Lyme, skip to around minute 28.